Is there a simple way to do SEO? As in, if I have enough money, can I just pay for it to be "done"? Can you buy the top spots in the results? Can you pay a person / company to do it for you?
1. Yes. It is simple. It is not easy. 2. Yes. You will pay too much and will not get much return on investment. Also, you will probably have to continue paying, as the ranking will be achieved by purchasing term links. 3. Yes, all search engines have this, it's called PPC. For Google, Sign up for Adwords. It will be cheaper than paying an SEO but much more difficult to manage. You can also hire someone to do this if you have a bankroll burning a hole in your pocket. 4. No SEO can guarantee top spots, but with a big enough budget anyone can achieve a fairly high ranking. (Disclosure: I am not a professional SEO, nor do I employ anyone to assist with optimizing my sites.)
I looked at Adwords but if I'm not mistaken you're just buying the ad links on the side, right? Not getting in the actual listings. I'm looking at this for a new project I haven't launched yet. I would like to reach at least 5,000 monthly uniques within 12 months of launch. The max I'd like to spend on SEO would be about $5000, is that feasible?
Well you can pay somebody but no body can guarantee exact rankings I'm a 4 years seo freelancer pm me url / age / keyphrases you target
Well, that depends on the niche, but it can certainly be done for that price. re:Adwords, yes, you get listed on the side unless you have the top bid (s). Then (sometimes) you'll appear on top. A pro Seo usually charges by the keyword, so PPC also gives you the chance to bid on a wider spread. And, as I say, you'll keep paying anyway. If I were you, I'd learn SEO and spend that budget achieving permanent links. What you have to understand about freelance SEO's is that they (mostly) achieve results by buying short-term, expensive links. When you stop paying for your ranking, it disappears. If you build your own links, you can achieve permanent placement on a variety of keywords and only pay to grow, not maintain.
The site is a blog aimed a college students, it's almost like a GQ or Men's Health "College Edition," with health tips, dating advice, product reviews and such, specific to students. Do you have any recommendations for learning how to SEO myself and building permanent links? Also what are short term links, I don't really understand that.
Short-term links (i.e.) links purchased for the targeted site for the purpose of boosting rankings. This is how most SEO's achieve results. These links can be purchased monthly or yearly, and expire unless more money is paid. So although this practice is called "buying links" you are really renting them. Nothing wrong with short-term links, except that if you hire an SEO to "buy" them for you, you'll keep having to pay that SEO to retain your ranking. PM me for a free SEO lesson, my methods all take lots of work.
Amen, no respectable or notable SEO consultant or service provider would. They should already know the nature of search engines and how they work, which would make you understand why you can't guarantee rankings. I do SEO services, you can see in my signature. I "rarely" do any ranking services where I personally try to get a specific website rank for a specific search phrase. Your thinking... what?! Yes, I mostly do on-page SEO analysises and correct on-page SEO issues. I also do backlinking build, but not to rank for a specific term, my goal is to build quality relevant one-way backlinks, which 50 of those would be better than 10,000 non-relevant low quality backlinks. I also re-write or add more quailty content. I provide consultation to whatever questions my client has SEO wise, etc etc etc. You'll see that your better off getting some you can go to thats knowledgable, friendly and read to provide service right away. My SEO analysis is the most popular service I have, easily getting 3-4 requests per day alone. Beware of who and for what you give up your own money for.